Solace
by Major Mike Powell III
Summary: Solace, which Ayano finds in the arms of Chitose, the one person that was by her side all along, and how they came to be, because Ayano happened to see the subtlety and read between the lines. AyanoxChitose with a side of KyoukoxYui, AkarixChinatsu and HimawarixSakurako. 'Cuz when you want something done right, you better do it yourself. Hoo-rrah!


**Solace**

**By Major Mike Powell III**

The room was slowly but surely being flooded with the rising sun's rays, the light of the dawn of a new day piercing through the darkness of the room via the unobstructed window next to the bed.

For the two occupants of this room, a great portion of the previous night had been spent completely awake. The whisper of a young maiden's soft, soothing voice escaped her lips in the midst of her tired sleep.

"…ten years after, I'll still be loving you…" This gentle whisper caused the young lady's bedmate to tighten the embrace she had on her silver-haired partner's midsection, her lovely face graced with a peaceful look as she further nuzzled into her best friend's soft bosom, the beating of the beautiful, loving heart within washing her worries and sorrow away.

In response to this, the girl below her moved her hands to gently, soothingly caress her friend's long, flowing, silky hair. Her dainty fingers threaded through those rich purple locks with practiced ease, causing her friend to cuddle even closer to her.

An almost inaudible giggle escaped from Chitose Ikeda's lips. Ayano Sugiura had always had the urge to cuddle whenever somebody (meaning Chitose) stroked her hair.

After just about a few minutes of peaceful, gentle cuddling, Ayano lifted her face from Chitose's bosom to look her straight in the eye: dark violet staring into ocean blue.

"Chitose…kiss me. Please…"

-o-o-o-

That morning, and the night before it, was one of many by now, ever since the day Ayano let go of the first love of her young life so far.

It was about a month earlier, when Ayano had finally realized that her beloved, the very definition of the traits "air-headed", "energetic" and just overall "goof", the blonde leader of the (unofficial) Amusement Club, Kyouko Toshino, would never be hers.

Kyouko was already in love with another, none other than one of her childhood friends and fellow Amusement Club members, Yui Funami, and that love was most definitely reciprocated.

The main issue here was that Ayano and her own childhood friend, Chitose, were basically **the only ones **to even notice it. Nobody else noticed it. Nobody ever took the time to look closely. If they did, they would all know just how Kyouko and Yui felt towards each other.

Yui and Kyouko were essentially masters of disguise, romantically speaking.

Ayano saw it first: she saw it all. She saw how those two girls felt as plain as day.

The looks the brunette and blonde gave each other when they thought nobody was paying attention; looks, smiles, and even incredibly subtle hand gestures…all of these, signs that only those two friends shared. The looks on their faces…their feelings were clear as day, yet nobody bothered to look close enough. But Ayano saw it all, and she knew it. Kyouko would never be hers.

The relationship of Yui and Kyouko then became written in stone, so to speak, when Ayano almost walked in on them sharing words and caresses of love inside an empty classroom one day, with the light of the setting sun shining upon them from beyond the classroom windows.

That moment, the moment Ayano realized any and all attempts to make Kyouko hers would be futile…she simply sighed, shut the door to the classroom gently…and then, locked it from outside, getting a pair of startled yelps from within the room. She then turned away and walked off with just a tiny hint of satisfaction at that little measure of revenge, so to speak, walking away with just a few lonely tears spilling from her chin and landing on the floor in her wake.

-o-o-o-

Time moves on, and life goes on.

Ayano was not exactly the same as she was before she saw Yui and Kyouko's relationship fully displayed in that empty classroom, but the more things change, the more they stay the same.

Ayano had a maiden's heart, but she was a strong maiden. She was still the responsible, dependable, and overall role model Student Council Vice-President she had always been.

The old married couple squabbles that her fellow Student Council members Sakurako and Himawari, which they thought fooled everyone, still failed horribly at that. They were as established as Kyouko and Yui, but far less subtle. And Ayano honestly felt kind of bad about it, but she seriously wondered of the honey-blonde and bluenette _knew_ what subtlety even was.

Yui and Kyouko were still masters of keeping things hidden, their relationship a little secret only they shared.

Chinatsu Yoshikawa was still as lively and ever-so "smitten" with her "beloved" Yui-sempai…yet they all knew she wasn't fooling anyone. The girl with the absolutely terrifying drawing and story-telling skills was always practically holding Akari Akaza's hand under the table, sharing secret smiles with the redhead that were not so secret.

Ayano even kept on yelling "TOSHINO KYOUKO!" at the top of her lungs in mock rage every single time she barged into the Amusement Club room with Chitose faithfully walking in behind her with her usual greeting of "Pardon the intrusion~!"

Yes, life goes on, yet with all these quirky feelings and displays of affection around them, Ayano had long ago confided in Chitose on the events of that fateful day at dusk.

Ayano was not devastated, no…or so she wanted Chitose to believe.

After Ayano revealed everything that she saw, Chitose simply took her glasses off and held her arms open. The older Ikeda twin offered Ayano her loyalty, her warm embrace, and the purple-haired tsundere readily accepted.

She leapt into Chitose's embrace and let the girl's love, loyalty, warmth, everything…all that Chitose had to offer, she let it all engulf her, and then, cried.

Ayano was a strong maiden, yes…but a maiden can withstand so much pain and heartache by herself for so long.

Ayano Sugiura cried like she had never cried before, all the while her oldest, most loyal and loving friend, Chitose Ikeda held her, held Ayano and her sorrowful heart, in her warm, accepting, soothing embrace, like a silver-haired angel with blue eyes sheltering her in her wings.

-o-o-o-

Little time after that, Ayano decided that she truly, honestly wanted to move on. Leave her feelings for Kyouko behind. Leave her love for the blonde behind, yet not forget her. Ayano would never forget Kyouko. She would never even want to. And for Chitose, that was just fine. She offered Ayano her love, though really, the purplenette would never even have to ask for it, because she had always had it. And she let Ayano knows this one simple day, when she and her soon-to-be- girlfriend were out on a leisurely stroll, during which Ayano had told her she wanted to move on.

The silver-haired girl had simply taken Ayano's hand, intertwined their fingers and dazzled her beloved with a smile.

"I'll help you, Ayano-chan. Because I love you~!" She said it, as clear as a sunny day.

The tsundere whose hand she was holding stared at her in quiet pondering…and then, wrapped her hands around Chitose's arm and leaned in to rest her head on her silver-haired angel's shoulder.

"Thank you, Chitose…thank you _so_ much…!"

And so, that day, Ayano became Chitose's girlfriend, and she adored every moment they spent together since that day.

Ayano did not have to force herself to love Chitose. In fact, this new relationship was not even that hard to enjoy in earnest to begin with. Ayano and Chitose knew everything about one another. They knew exactly what the other liked and disliked. They never had to struggle when finding something to do or talk about. Loving Chitose was simply easy and wonderful. Ayano had long since lost count of how many times Chitose made her smile, giggle, laugh, and just plain feel good.

-o-o-o-

And now, here they were, in the purplenette's room, bathed in the light of the rising sun, staring into each other's souls.

Ayano made her request…and she saw Chitose's beautiful eyes glimmer with tears of utmost joy. The silver-haired maiden cupped Ayano's cheeks with nothing but tenderness, her touch warm as can be.

"Ayano-chan…I've wanted you to ask that for so long…" Her voice was just about to crack from the emotion. That's right: Ayano and Chitose had not kissed since becoming girlfriends.

Yet, it was not because of lack of effort. They had honestly tried to kiss before, yet in each instance, things happened, people walked in, and sometimes both, like that one time a boy with tightly-closed eyes had practically blasted past them when their lips were a single solitary inch away, screaming "AHHHH! EAGLEEE!" at the top of his lungs as a Japanese mountain hawk pecked and cawed away at him, and a brunette girl with pigtails chased after her boyfriend, yelling "Damn it, Yamazaku-kun! Not again!"

But now, this was the first time they had actually acknowledged that desire to grant each other this one, most symbolic act of affection with verbal means.

And Ayano **was** a tsundere, after all.

"Sorry…kept you waiting, huh?" Ayano apologized, getting a cute hiccup of a giggle from Chitose. The purplenette leaned further down, and now, not even the light coming from outside was able to shine between the silhouettes of their heads.

"Chitose…thank you so much for loving me. _Thank you!_" And with that, Ayano's lips descended, crashing against Chitose's, and passion and love flared within their bodies, making their hearts soar together, feeling as if a warm string were tying itself around their hearts, their souls, lacing them together.

And just as the passion and adoration soar ever-higher…the curtain falls on this tale, closing the initial chapter of the blooming love of Ayano Sugiura and Chitose Ikeda.

_~FIN~_

_For YuriFan300 and love for this beautiful, underappreciated, underrated pairing. Thank you for reading, and thank you, Yuri-chan._

_Semper-Fi! Carry on!_


End file.
